Notes on Change by Design by Tim Brown

I've been getting deep into design thinking and heard the book Change by Design by Tim Brown mentioned repeatedly, so I figured I'd check it out. Tim Brown is the CEO of the design firm IDEO, which, along with the Stanford d.school, really spearheaded a lot of the design thinking movement.

I found the book to be a great overview of DT and recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with the subject. I personally would've wished for the book to spend more time on specific techniques and less on the broader trends and high-level concepts since most of those are already familiar. I suppose there wasn't a lot of depth on the techniques because this stuff is much better learned by doing rather than reading. I did find the copious number of real-world examples where DT made a difference to be interesting.

Below are my main takeaways from the book that go beyond what I learned before or present the material from a different perspective.

Intro

• Integrating human POV with technical
  
• Design as hub of wheel not link in chain
  
• Human centered not tech centered
  
• Design thinking applied to many new industries and problems
  
• Mind maps not tables of contents (linear)
  

Part 1 what is design thinking

Ch 1 dt is about more than style

• IDEO work for Shimano
  
• Interviewed many areas of bicycling customers
  
• Created coasting bikes and better retail strategy
  

3 spaces of innovation

• No one best way
  
• Overlapping spaces
  
• 1. Inspiration
  
• 2. Ideation
  
• 3. Implementation
  
• Iterative, nonlinear, exploratory
  
• Fail early to succeed sooner
  
• Feels chaotic but makes sense by end
  

• Willing embrace of constraints actually helps
  
• Sometimes constraints conflict; that's ok
  
• Evaluate constraints on 3 overlapping criteria 
  
• 1. Feasibility: functionally possible
  
• 2. Viability: sustainable as biz
  
• 3. Desirability: makes sense to ppl
  
• Find harmonious balance
  
• Businesses sometimes focus only on what fits in biz model (incremental improvement)
  
• DT uses project not problem
  
• Project has specific goal and beginning, middle, and end and constraints
  

The brief

• Like scientific hypothesis not algorithm 
  
• Starting point
  
• Mental constraints by which to begin
  
• Benchmarks to measure progress
  
• Set of objectives to be realized, Price point, tech, mkt segment
  
• Need right balance between constraints and broadness in brief
  

• Interdisciplinary team
  
• T shaped people
  

Creative culture and environment

• Physical space giving permission
  
• Skunkworks
  
• Mattel
  
• Separate project rooms
  
• Visibility of project materials
  
• Wiki
  
• Flexibility in space
  
• DT needs to move upstream
  

Ch 2 converting needs into demand or putting ppl first

• Asking ppl what want doesn't work
  
• Articulate latent needs
  
• Insight, observation, empathy
  

Insight

• Learning from lives of others
  
• Myriad thoughtless acts of ppl
  
• Actual behaviors give clues
  
• Watch what ppl don't do or say
  

Observation

• Intense field work
  
• Find extreme users, OCD ppl
  
• Research sponsored by companies
  

Empathy

• translate observations into insights
  
• Hospital patient er experience
  
• Emotional understanding
  
• Video ethnography, computer logging
  
• Understand links between ppl
  

Consumers as part of design team

• Crowd-sourced design
  
• participatory design teams
  
• User generated content
  
• Collaboration between creators and consumers
  

Ch 3 a mental matrix or these ppl have no process

• Getting client to come backstage
  

Convergent and divergent thinking

• To have a good idea you must first have many ideas
  
• Methodical experimentation
  
• Ideas should not be favored based on who came up with them
  
• Let ideas create buzz and a following
  
• Bottom up experimentation
  
• Propagate ideas up
  
• Not just suggestion box
  
• Must gain org support
  

Brainstorming

• Rules
  
• Build on ideas of others
  
• Write rules on walls
  
• Dedicate rooms for it
  

Visual thinking

• Drawing practice
  
• Draw to express ideas and options
  
• Drawing forces decisions
  
• Post it notes best tools for convergent thinking
  
• Getting consensus through butterfly test
  
• Vote putting butterflies on post it's
  
• Deadlines turn options into decisions
  
• Exploring opposing ideas
  
• Complexity most reliable source of ideas
  

Ch 4 building to think or the power of prototyping

• Kids build
  
• Prototypes all over kids rooms
  
• Physical to abstract and back cycles
  
• Thinking with your hands
  

Quick and dirty

• Don't over invest in one prototype
  
• Goal is just learning and understanding
  
• Skits
  
• Foam core
  
• Storyboards in film
  
• Keeps ppl at the center
  
• Describing customer journey
  

 
Acting out

• Service innovation
  
• Kids are best role models
  
• Role-playing
  
• Tell users to add post it's to ur prototypes
  
• Improv acting techniques
  
• Takes some confidence and open-mindedness
  

Prototyping in the wild

DT for company reorg

• IDEO's own redesign through prototypes
  
• Prototypes slow us down to speed us up
  
• Must make own prototype instead of outsourcing
  
• Start with quick cycle like 1 day to first prototype
  

 
Ch 5 returning to the surface or the design of experiences

• Not just fulfilling function but having an experience
  
• Mayo Clinic Spark Lab design studio testing new provider experiences
  
• Changing behavior hard; offer new behavior
  

Experience blueprint

• Specs for interaction
  
• Described emotive elements of journey through time and space
  

Ch 6 spreading the message or the power of storytelling

• Cool Biz movement in Japan
  
• Used compelling story to spread word
  
• Stories give ideas meaning
  

Designing in fourth dimension

• Time
  
• Interaction design
  
• Designing verbs and stories
  

Stories as product

• Meme
  
• Turn audience into storytellers themselves
  

Design challenge

• Challenge between rival teams
  
• X-Prize
  

Part 2 where do we go from here

Ch 7 design thinking meets the corporation or teaching to fish

• Steelcase
  
• Dedicated spaces
  
• Workshops
  

Ch 8 new social contract or we're all In this together

• Convos with customers
  

Blurring between products and services

• All becoming experiences
  
• How might we... (HWM)
  
• TSA redesign
  

Sustainability

Ch 9 design activism or inspiring solutions with great potential

• Designing for extreme needs
  
• Acumen Fund
  
• Social enterprise
  
• Architecture for Humanity
  

Ch 10 designing tomorrow today

• Designing a life
  
• Observe the ordinary
  
• Carry a sketchpad and draw sketches

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